Relatives of victims killed in one of two Max 737 jetliner crashes blasted the proposed plea deal under which aircraft manufacturer Boeing would avoid trial for conspiring to mislead regulators about flaws in a crucial flight-control system.
"Miscarriage of justice is a gross understatement in describing this," Zipporah Kuria of England said in a statement Monday. "It is an atrocious abomination."
Kuria, whose father Joseph died in the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, also said that "God forbid, if this happens again," she hoped the Justice Department "is reminded that it had the opportunity to do something meaningful and instead chose not to."
Ike Riffel of California, whose two sons, Melvin and Bennett, died in the crash, said, "Without full transparency and accountability nothing will change," according to CNN.
"With this deal, there will be no investigation, there will be no expert witness testimony, there will be no perpetrators of these crimes to answer the charges in court," Riffel said in a statement.
Aerospace engineer Javier de Luis, whose sister Graziella de Luis was killed on Flight 302, said, "When the next crash happens, every DOJ official that signed off on this deal will be as responsible as the Boeing executives that refuse to put safety ahead of profits."
Lawyers representing the families of victims of Flight 302 and the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610 into the Java Sea off Indonesia said in court papers that their clients would challenge the deal under terms of the Crime Victims' Rights Act, ABC News reported.
"The families intend to argue that the plea deal with Boeing unfairly makes concessions to Boeing that other criminal defendants would never receive and fails to hold Boeing accountable for the deaths of 346 persons," the lawyers wrote.
The DOJ said in a statement that the agreement, which requires approval by a judge, "protects the American public" by requiring Boeing to "make historic investments to strengthen and integrate its compliance and safety programs."
The statement also noted that the deal was "providing no immunity to any individual employees, including corporate executives, for any conduct."
Boeing confirmed it had "reached an agreement in principle" with prosecutors but declined to comment further.
